emilie_autumnfandomcom-20200213-history
Emilie Autumn
Emily Autumn, '''or Emilie Autumn Fritzges, was born on September 22, 1979 in Malibu, California. She is better known by her stage name, though early on in her career she may have been referred as "Autumn Fritzges." Known knowledge of her family has her as the second-oldest sibling in a family of five children, but Emilie has claimed that her family died in a fire. Autumn began practicing violin at age four with the goal to become a "world-class violinist," subsequently dropping out of public school and attended the Coulburn School of Performing Arts in her early teen years. http://omistressmine.tumblr.com/post/35988144519/ea-attended-the-well-respected-colburn-school-of She briefly attended Indiana University only to drop out, claiming that she did not conform to the University's standards in dress and attitude. Around 2001, Autumn began her own independent label, Traitor Records, after a breif business relationship with Chicago-based (no longer in operatino) label, Seraph Records. Seraph Records had released her single, Chambermaid,'' but EA would continue to release her "Enchant Era" work through Traitor Records, including titles such as ''Enchant ''and ''By the Sword. In 2004 she became Courtney Love's "anarchy violinist" and appeared on her album, "American Sweetheart." She traveled with Love's band, The Chelsea, through Europe to promote the album, and returned home to Chicago shortly thereafter. After four years running her own label, she signed onto Germany-based Trisol Records, which released such titles as ''Opheliac ''and ''Laced/Unlaced, ''along with a plethura of singles and EPs; a few short years later she dropped from that record label and signed onto The End Records, based out of New York City, in 2009. The End re-released ''Opheliac ''in America, which had previously been a German import. By 2012 she was back on her own independent label, now called The Asylum Emporium Records. Her lastest release from that label is ''Fight Like A Girl. '' Autumn starred as the "Painted Doll" in Darren Bousman's ''The Devil's Carnival, Ep. 1. ''She will be reprising her role in the second episode, slated to come out sometime in late 2013 or early 2014. Life and Career Beginnings Autumn was born in Malibu, California in September of 1979. Though information about her family is scarce and rarely given out by Autumn herself, it is known that she was the second-oldest of five children. Her mother is rumored to be Janice Longmire, seamstress and costumer for multiple ice skaters around the world. Autumn claims to be a descendant of Alice Lidell. In her autobiographical novel, ''The Asylum for Wayward Victorian' Girls, Autumn comments on how auditory hallucinations, stemming from bipolar disorder, came to her at a very young age. She would drown out these voices by playing ''Pachelbel's Canon in D ''(the wedding march) in her head so she could sleep. When she was four years old, she started learning the violin, and later commented: "I remember asking for a violin, but I don't remember knowing what one was. I might have thought it was a kind of pony for all I know, but I don't remember being disappointed." Upon learning the violin, she dropped out of public schooling to work towards her goal of becoming a "world-class violinist," and joined a conservatory around the age of 14. At the time, her interests outside of violin playing resided in such things as Shakespeare, the Renaissance, and horseback riding. The conservatory further nutured her skills with the violin, during which time she was reported to be touring around Europe with her instrument. Her skill eventually lead her to be enrolled in the Indiana University in Bloomington, IL. However, she would drop out of college after disagreements with her teachers about styles of dress and attitude towards classical music and performing. She believed that neither the audience nor the original composer would be insulted by the clothing and appearance of the performer. Enchant Era (2001-04) Having never intended to sing any of her own songs, Autumn eventually performed her lyrics for a music producer and subsequently signed on the label. Much like her falling out at University, the producer's changes to her music were a source of disagreement and she left the labels shortly after joining. From this incident she formed her own label, Traitor Records, which debuted her classical album ''On a Day..., ''which she recorded at the age of 17. In 2001, Emilie released a single called ''By the Sword ''in response to the Twin-Tower terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. All proceeds went to the Red Cross. Her first full-length vocal album, ''Enchant, ''was released in 2003. The album artwork contained the "Enchant Puzzle," which offered a reward of the Faerie Queene's clothing if the listener could decipher Autumn's puzzle. The prizes included The Queene's wings, ruff, fan, and scepter. To this day, the puzzle has not been solved, though Autumn insists that the puzzle is still solveable. Autumn and a close friend, known as Queen fLee, would begin small independent fashion houses known as WillowTech House and Alter, A Shrine to Recycled Fashion. Such things as shirts, jewelry, perfume, hair accessories, and faerie wings were sold through these venues. The most noteable release was Autumn's first perfume, "Mistress." In 2004, Courtney Love stumbled upon Emilie's violin abilities and insisted that Autumn come work with her on her new album, "America's Sweetheart." Autumn complied and joined Love's band, the Chelsea, for recording and touring about Europe. However, much of Autumn's violin work did not get released on the album; she commented: "This had to do entirely with new producers taking over the project after our little vacation in France, and carefully discarding all of our sessions." During this time, she would appear on the Late Show with David Letterman and perform in venues otherwise unavailable to a fledgling artist. A now-unavailable forum post revealed that Autumn's Father, Wolfgang, died of cancer in September of 2004. She commented on how they were not close and she was unsure of what she would do with his cremation ashes. Later in 2004, Emilie would appear on WGTV's ''Crafter's Coast to Coast ''television series. In the episode, she demonstrated how to make Faerie Wings and Sushi Soap. In 2005, Emilie would re-release a poetry book (''Across the Sky and Other Poems) ''as ''Your Sugar Sits Untouched, ''which was sold through CafePress.com as a WillowTech House product. It featured a full-length spoken voice double-disc release with the book, wherein Autumn read all her poetry with minor musical background. Opheliac Era (2005-11) At some point during 2005, Emilie was signed onto the German Record label, Trisol Records. Her work on Opheliac from 2004 would continue in Chicago with friend and sound engineer, Inkydust at Mad Villian Studios. Other collaborations in 2005 included costuming Billy Corgan's "Walking Shade" music video and the violin and vocals for the track "Gates of Eternity" on Attrition's album, ''The Voice of Mary Ann Cotton. ''Autumn later shamed the release of her work, as it was "unapproved and altered" from her original work and intended for a separate release with Martin Bowes. In January of 2006, Emilie would perform "Misery Loves Company" on Chicago's WGN network to promote her album shortly before it's release in September of 2006. She also released her own EP of the album through Traitor Records (which would be Traitor's last release) in April to promote the album, which included six songs from ''Opheliac. ''The album's fifth track did not work due to a malfuntion with the printer. While these EPs were shipping out, Autumn's home was robbed, which caused a dely in the shipping and production of the EP. A double feature EP was released (Liar/Dead is the New Alive EP) in 2006 that featured two tracks Opheliac, new material, and a sneak-peek at Autumn's upcoming instrumental album, ''Laced/Unlaced. '' Following this EP release in October of 2006, Autum's violin work was featured in Brendon Small's and Adult Swim's ''Metalocalypse. ''She covered the television's shows intro music and was featured for a single episode and her violin is present in the 2007 release of ''The Dethalbum. ''Following this, Emilie would work on ''Laced/Unlaced ''during her stay with Small. The instrumental two-disc classical and industrial album would be released in 2007. The tracks "Unlaced" and "Face the Wall" were added to her live show. The first disc, ''Laced, was a re-release of On a Day... She later released A Bit O This & That in 2007, a compilation of her covers, classical pieces, and her own songs. In 2008, she released the EP 4 o'Clock, which contained remixes of songs from Opheliac, new songs, and a reading from her autobiographical novel The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls. She also released another EP, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun & Bohemian Rhapsody, the same year. A year later, Autumn broke away from Trisol Music Group to join The End Records and re-release Opheliac ''in the United States on October 27, 2009; previously, it was only available there as an import. The re-release included extras such as pictures, bonus tracks, an excerpt from ''The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, and a video of a puppet singing one of her songs. In late 2009 and early 2010, Autumn's autobiographical novel, ''The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, ''was released after much anticipation from fans. At nearly 5-pounds, the hardcover book is printed on glossy paper and features Emilie's journal writings, designs, sketches, and story about her time spent in a psychiatric ward and the events that occurred within. Autumn's experiences remain highly controversial to fans and critics, who wonder on the truthfulness and accurracy of her descriptions and thoughts of the medical health care system in America. 2009 also saw the release of Autumn's ''The Opheliac Companion, ''which was a nine-hour commentary with herself and Inkydust about the 2006 release. It covered all the songs on the first disc of the original album. During this time, Emilie went on extensive touring with ''Opheliac, ''touring both North America and the Europe seven times. As each tour progressed, music was added from new EP and album releases to create a unique, new experience for each round. Fight Like A Girl Era (2011-Present) The first news of Emilie's new album came in the tracks of ''The Opheliac Companion, ''wherein Emilie stated that the new album might be called "Fight Like A Girl." In 2010, Autumn released the acronym "F.L.A.G." on Twitter before revealing the album's full title: ''Fight Like A Girl. ''The album was released on July 24, 2012, after a two-track digital single early on in the year. The album is based on Emilie's aforementioned novel, ''The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls. ''It is also meant to serve as a blue print for an upcoming musical Autumn plans to debut on London's Westend before bringing it to the States and formulating a movie script from the play. Emilie has performed on two tours with this album and is coming up on her third, which will be a European tour. The title track, "Fight Like A Girl" was also performed during on of Emilie's last ''Opheliac Concerts ''in Australia when she was participating in the Harvest Music Festival in 2011. A music video for the title track was released in April of 2013, having been filmed in December 2012 in a theater in downtown LA. Many co-stars from ''The Devil's Carnival ''were featured in the seven-minute video, including Marc Senter and Dayton Callie. It was directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, friend and collaborator of Autumn. Fans were given the chance to appear in the music video through an online screening and casting call. Influences and Style Emilie has influences that are highly classical, from Mozart to Bach. Her lyrics are heavily inspired from Shakespeare's works, most noteably ''Hamlet, ''and she is a lover of Edgar Allen Poe. Her earliest music has a highly classical and Renaissance/Baroque influence, while works such as ''Opheliac ''seem to be influenced by the goth and industrial culture. ''Laced/Unlaced ''seems to be most akin to heavy metal industrial music (though it is self-proclaimed "victoriandustrial" music), while ''Fight Like A Girl ''is heavily stylized to Broadway musicals. Autumn's influences are far and wide in the musical world. Overall, her music is best described as a mix of classical, industrial, and glam rock (excluding ''Enchant), and ''Autumn describes her music and style as "Psychotic Vaudeville Burlesque." Her vocal range is contralto. Her live performances are best described as a mix of rock and burlesque, as well as a bit of dinner theater as the band and lead singer throw tea, cupcakes, and other baked goods into the audience. One member of her band, Veronica Varlow, performs a burlesque routine each night. Her musical taste is also varied, as she is a fan of bands such as Moi Dix Mois, Nigel Kennedy, and Morrissey, all of which who practice very different styles of music. Discography '''Studio Albums *On a Day... (1997) *Enchant (2003) *Opheliac (2006) *Laced/Unlaced (2007) *Fight Like A Girl (2012) Compilation Albums *A Bit O' This and That (2007) EPs, Singles, and Companion Albums *Chambermaid EP (2001) *By the Sword Single (2001) *Opheliac EP (2006) *Liar/Dead is the New Alive EP (2006) *4 o'Clock EP (2008) *Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Double Feature EP (2008) *The Opheliac Companion (2009) *Fight Like A Girl (digital download) (2012) Books and Broadway Musical Autumn has written three books to date, which include one full-length novel and two poetry books. She also has other writing projects she speaks about on occassion, such as The Alphabet Book of Ex-Boyfriends ''and a tea book. *Across the Sky & Other Poems (2001) *Your Sugar Sits Untouched Poetry Book & Spoken Word Album (2005) *The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls (2009) Her most recent title, ''The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, is the inspiration and basis for her newest album, Fight Like A Girl. ''Together, both the book and the album are to lead up to the creation of a musical about ''The Asylum... ''that Autumn intends to launch in 2014 on London's Westend. After the musical there is rumored to be a movie, both of which will be directed by Darren Bousman. Collaborations *Backing vocals and violin on the album ''America's Sweetheart (2003) by Courtney Love *Backing vocals and violin on the album TheFutureEmbrace (2005) by Billy Corgan *Violin on the album The Dethalbum (2007) by Dethklok *Opening music on Adult Swim's Metalocalypse, ''ep. "Fat Kid goes to the Detharmonic" *Song "Organ Grinder" on the European edition of the ''Saw III soundtrack *Remix version of "Dead Is The New Alive" on the international version of the Saw IV soundtrack *Violin on the track "UR A WMN NOW" on OTEP's fourth album, Smash the Control Machine (2009) *Vocals and violin on the song "Dry" by Die Warzau *Vocals and violin on the song "The Gates of Eternity" by Attrition *Vocals and violin featured on The Devil's Carnival album as The Painted Doll *Album with Marc Senter for the band Platonic Friends Other Musical Projects Emilie has been associated with many other musical projects throughout here career, most of which have not come to see the light of day. These projects include: *Ravensong *Convent *The Jane Brooks Project *Platonic Friends The most recent of these projects, Platonic Friends , is a collaberation between Emilie Autumn and Marc Senter, a friend and co-star of Autumn in her musical and in ''The Devil's Carnival. '' Links and Related Articles *Official Website *Official Fan Forum *Asylum Emporium *Official Fan Club *Discography *The Bloody Crumpets *Live Shows *The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls *Article: The Official Websites *Article: The Asylum Forum *Article: The Asylum Emporium *Film, Television, and Video References